Text Size

VIDEO DU JOUR: “Following his commencement address at the United States Naval Academy on Friday, President Obama personally congratulated each graduate in the class of 1,047. POLITICO's time lapse of over 1,000 presidential handshakes -- and one big hug.” http://politi.co/12UxTDD

THE BIG IDEA: “Recovery Politics: Improving economy changes political landscape,” by AP’s Tom Raum: “Alleged misbehavior by the Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies gives the GOP something else to talk about and investigate as the economy clearly, if slowly, recovers on President Barack Obama's watch, robbing Republicans of a central argument against Democrats. Amid a series of recent positive economic reports, the GOP is revving up its portrayal of the Obama administration as scandal-ridden and inept, while largely abandoning the party's where-is-the-recovery criticism. Republicans had little choice, given that the economy has gained considerable strength over the past 18 months. Today, the federal budget deficit is shrinking rapidly and tax receipts are rising. Consumer confidence and spending are up, as are auto and housing sales. Stocks are near all-time highs. …

“While unemployment is at 7.5 percent, it's down from the 10 percent of October 2009. Also, recent job creation in the private sector has been relatively strong. … As the rebound gains steam, Republicans stand to lose what had been one of their strongest hands for the 2014 elections: asserting ineffective economic stewardship from the Democrat in the White House and those on Capitol Hill. But they pick up another compelling issue, one that touches directly on Obama's core 2008 campaign promise to restore public confidence in the ability of government to produce results in an effective and evenhanded way.” http://on-msn.com/10TwOry

LEONARD DOWNIE JR., on the cover of tomorrow’s WashPost “Outlook” section, “Obama, the unaccountable president: The Post’s Leonard Downie Jr. says the administration’s war on leaks hurts investigative journalism”: “For the past five years, beginning with his first presidential campaign, Barack Obama has promised that his government would be the most open and transparent in American history. … But the Obama administration’s steadily escalating war on leaks, the most militant I have seen since the Nixon administration, has disregarded the First Amendment and intimidated a growing number of government sources of information — most of which would not be classified — that is vital for journalists to hold leaders accountable. The White House has tightened its control over officials’ contacts with the news media, and federal agencies have increasingly denied Freedom of Information Act requests on the grounds of national security or protection of internal deliberations. …

“At the request of the White House and the CIA, the AP held the story for five days to protect an ongoing intelligence operation. The AP’s discussions with government officials were similar to many I participated in with several administrations during my years as executive editor of The Washington Post … After the AP story appeared, Obama administration officials spoke freely about the operation. … [A]s the administration copes with second-term governing challenges, real national security threats and darkening clouds of scandal, its credibility will become increasingly important to the president’s legacy.” Leonard Downie Jr. is a vice president at large of The Washington Post. He is the Weil family professor of journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University and a board member of the nonprofit Investigative Reporters and Editors. http://wapo.st/1aj7vnZ

REMEMBERING HAYNES JOHNSON – WashPost B6, “Author, Post reporter paired keen perception, sharp prose,” by Matt Schudel: “Haynes Johnson, a distinguished Washington Post journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize for civil rights coverage in the 1960s and later sought to pierce the mysteries of the politics and gamesmanship of the capital, died May 24 at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda. He was 81. He had a heart attack, his wife, Kathryn Oberly, said. Mr. Johnson was a Washington reporter for more than 50 years, beginning at the old Washington Star, where he won a Pulitzer for national reporting in 1966 for covering the struggles of African Americans in Selma, Ala. … Along with David S. Broder and other reporters, Mr. Johnson brought a fresh depth and sophistication to The Post and to political coverage in particular. …

“In 1980, when many Washington observers thought the presidential election between President Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan would be close, Mr. Johnson discerned something else in his travels: a potential landslide for Reagan. ‘The most striking aspect of this dreary presidential campaign so far involves people’s attitudes about Jimmy Carter,’ he wrote. ‘After weeks of travel and interviews it’s literally true that I have yet to meet a single person who is happy about voting for him. . . . In one way or another the people I’ve met have all had reservations about another four years of Jimmy Carter in the White House.’ …

“One of his most celebrated books, ‘Sleepwalking Through History: America in the Reagan Years’ (1991) analyzed the 1980s with an unsparing eye toward Reagan and Congress. In one passage, Mr. Johnson described how oil producers in Texas greeted Reagan’s election in 1980: ‘In Midland, Texas, entrepreneurs in the nation’s oil production capital gathered at the Holiday Inn to celebrate Reagan’s inaugural. On a buffet table, surrounded by nachos and barbecued smoky links, they placed a cutout of the Capitol dome in Washington. On it was one word: “Ours.”’” http://wapo.st/10rgRgC

--DID YOU KNOW HAYNES? If you had a memorable personal encounter with Haynes Johnson (as a source, onlooker, colleague, etc.), please send it to mallen@politico.com, and we’ll share it with Playbookland. Also interested if you have a favorite particular piece: What’s something Haynes wrote that tells us back in the day that illuminates our own world?

** A message about BP's commitment to America: Over the last five years, BP has been America's largest energy investor. Each year, we invest an average of $11 billion here and produce nearly enough oil, gas and renewables to light the entire country. In the process, we support almost 250,000 American jobs. Find out more about BP at bp.com/US. **

TECHWATCH – L.A. Times A1, “Also starring ... Google: The tech giant has a big role in the comedy ‘The Internship.’ [out June 7] It was a demanding cast member at times,” by Jessica Guynn and Dawn C. Chmielewski: “Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson may be the big names in the new comedy ‘The Internship,’ but the real star of the film is Google. The company campus in Mountain View, Calif., is the setting for the movie in which Vaughn and Wilson play down-on-their-luck watch salesmen searching for a second chance as Silicon Valley interns. Google lent its brand to the 20th Century Fox movie and let the production film two days on-site without charging location or licensing fees. Brainy staffers took on roles as extras (co-founder Sergey Brin appears twice, once wearing green neon slippers and riding an elliptical bike). The film highlights Google's Gmail, Google Plus, Wallet and Maps, and the company's self-driving car gets a cameo too. Google helped the filmmakers reconstruct the company's campus for filming at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, down to the details such as the T-shirts employees wear and the colorful ‘Noogler’ propeller hats that interns wear during their first week.

“Google's creative team designed the movie's end credits. Google even contributed dialogue for two scenes. … Google did have approval over how its products and culture were represented in the film, but it did not have final cut. … ‘The reason we got involved with the movie “The Internship” is that computer science has a marketing problem,’ Google Chief Executive Larry Page said during a keynote speech last week at the company's annual developers' conference in San Francisco. ‘We're the nerdy curmudgeons.’ Vaughn came up with concept for the comedy when the recession hit and friends in the Midwest began losing their jobs. As he began sketching out the story, he hit on the idea of having two salesmen reinvent themselves at the company that has come to symbolize the new economy. … Google … hires 1,500 summer interns from a pool of 40,000-plus highly qualified candidates … The film showcases the famous perks that Google's rich profit margins make possible: free gourmet food and dry cleaning, nap pods for afternoon shut-eye, lap pools and volleyball courts.” http://lat.ms/14MVx5w

--CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS”: (SUN 10am ET / 1pm ET): Discussion of Europe’s recession with Washington Post columnist, author and London-based Legatum Institute’s Anne Applebaum (“Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956”) and Financial Times’ chief economics commentator Martin Wolf; author and the London School of Economics’ Fawaz Gerges (“Obama and the Middle East”); discussion of Big Data with The Economist’s Kenneth Neil Cukier and the University of Oxford’s Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger; discussion of lessons the U.S. can learn from British intelligence with author, former MI6 field operative and Princeton University’s Matthew Dunn (“Unabridged: A Spycatcher Novel”) and The Economist’s Edward Lucas

--PBS’s “To the Contrary”: author and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) (“Fighting for Common Ground: How We Can Fix the Stalemate in Congress”); roundtable with Del. Eleanor Homles Norton (D-DC), The Heritage Foundation’s Genevieve Wood, National Network to End Domestic Violence president and CEO Kim Gandy and conservative commentator Rina Shah

--SiriusXM's “Polioptics” with Josh King (SAT/SUN 12pm ET / 6 pm ET): Beau Willimon, executive producer and show runner of Netflix's "House of Cards," on creating an alternative Washington universe that is the province of fictitious House Majority Leader Francis Underwood (D-SC). On SiriusXM's P.O.T.U.S. Ch. 124, also available for download on iTunes and at http://www.polioptics.com.

** A message about BP's commitment to America: BP invests more in America than any other country, and we reinvest every dollar we earn here and more. We employ more than 21,000 Americans in 49 states, making us the nation's second largest oil and gas employer. We hired over 2,700 employees last year. These investments, the energy they produce and the jobs they support are part of our commitment to America. Find out more about BP at bp.com/US **